Heartquakes

“In 2007, A.P.C. appointed me director of its subsidiary in Japan. I settled in Tokyo on August 1st, not knowing that this date marked the start of a long string of personal disasters in my life, leading to the March 2011 earthquake, and eventually to a break-up with a Japanese woman which, as trivial as it was, would be the most painful event of all.

Back in Paris, early in 2012, I chose to describe my grief using my own basic Japanese words. In turn, I focused on the precise moments from the relationship when I had felt my heart hurt the most. This process would end when my story would exhaust itself out of being told, or when I’d finally manage to put it in perspective with my other afflictions.

Years later, however, I was still not quite cured. Fearing a relapse, not knowing what to write anymore, I went back to Japan in August 2017 to complete the exorcism with photographies.”